Bea Gonzalez, interim dean of University College at Syracuse University and president of the Syracuse Common Council, represented Syracuse at the second annual National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials Educational Fund Summit in Washington, D.C.

The summit lasted from Sept. 13 to Sept. 15 and helped Gonzalez and others participating learn more about what they can do to improve Latino education across the country.

NALEO is an informational national organization that brings together people of Hispanic descent with policy muscle, said Silvio Torres-Saillant, director of Latin American and Latino Studies at SU.

‘To have presence there says something about SU’s care about Latinos in the community,’ Torres-Saillant said. ‘The university is dedicated to increasing the numbers of ethnic diversity.’

The summit had two components, Gonzalez said. The first of which, occurring on Sept. 13, was a lobbying effort during which many Latinos met with elected officials to talk about immigration.

The second component was an educational summit which began on Sept. 13 and lasted until Sept 15. The opening commencement featured a keynote address from U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings.

‘It seemed like (I was there) a month,’ Gonzalez said, who gave an interview on the all-Spanish Univision network among her many activities during the summit.

The variety of people who attended the summit included key policy makers and superintendents who have been successful in ‘closing the gap’ between Latinos and education, Gonzalez said. The knowledge and expertise gained during the summits were then taken back to communities and used to benefit Latino communities.

‘It makes for better elected officials,’ Gonzalez said.

One of the topics focused on during the summit was the No Child Left Behind Act. Some aspects of this act are helpful, said Gonzalez, but it is badly under-funded, and qualified teachers are in short demand. Delegates also discussed higher education access.

Gonzalez’s goal for the Syracuse area is to put together a pre-kindergarten to 20-year-old council-either regional or citywide-that will discuss what needs to be done to improve Latino educational performance. The council will ask questions about English as a Second Language programs and then forward those questions to superintendents and school boards so they can work to make ESL students’ educations better.

‘The country ties academic performance to economic development,’ Gonzalez said. ‘The higher the graduation rate, the lower the crime rate.’

SU students can become involved with the issues NALEO would like to address by getting involved with the community, Torres-Saillant said.

‘Venture downtown more often and do your best to overcome temptation to stay in the bubble,’ Torres-Saillant said. ‘If students can see the organizations trying to make a difference and their commitment to the community, it may make an impact.’

Too often, students become too focused on the entertainment aspect of the community and don’t notice the level of poverty many suffer, Torres-Saillant said.

‘It’s important for us to get involved because the Syracuse community is developing compared to the SU community,’ said Adam Mohamed, a freshman finance major. ‘It’s a way to help out kids that aren’t exposed to the educational opportunities we are on a daily basis.’

Gonzalez said she hopes to effect educational change in the Syracuse’s Latino community.

‘When you combine content-based bilingual programs and do it well, those students outperform others,’ she said

Published on September 23, 2006 at 12:00 pm